1. Field of the Invention
The scope of the invention resides in the logistic positioning and subsequent delivery of explosive devices by a mass action device. Said device must additionally bore a precise channel to some designated position wherein the aforesaid exploxive is to be implaced and detonated within an exact interval of time. Further the types of explosives delivered range from conventional to nuclear or thermonuclear implosion devices, which provide a means wherein large scale subterranean vaults can be excavated with fused or vitrified walls; which are impervious to leaks from corrosives, toxins, radioactive residues or virtually any other substances.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventional means of mining consisting of variation in hydraulic or mechanical boring means, similar to the types successfully established currently by the oil and mining industry are numerous and well known by those skilled in the art. However, the above-mentioned present technology is often restricted to high cost differentials, inaccuracies and limitations in time and material such as, drill tubes, boring heads, lubricants and the like. Various high impact velocity boring techniques involving the sequential gas charged firing of hypervelocity projectiles composed of abrassives such as, chrodium borate, silicon carbide, industrial diamonds, or the like are several orders of magnitude faster than conventional oil drilling and mining techniques, but are limited to availability of materials. The upper limit concerning the efficiency of various high velocity impact boring techniques apparently lie in the drive means, the quanity and types of propellants utilized and the amount of suitable abrasives, available for any given operation. Faster more accurate mining techniques deploying ion torches and/or electromotive devices are provided by affilates of Dow Chemicals, TRW (contract F04611-79-C-0058 pulse inductive thruster) and the International Applied Physics d.c. rail gun system (contract F04611-79-C-6057).
The limitations of ion torches or conventional d.c. rail induction devices and the like are imposed by restrictions in power output and materials such as, reactants, oxidants, or plasmoid production rather than the wear imposed on mechanical or physical components utilized to bore through materials varying in hardness and densities. Examples of high energy laser or particle beam generators are presently ten orders of magnitude (10.sup.10) more accurate than the aforementioned techniques and can yield a respectable four orders of magnitude (10.sup.4) increase in speeds over existing ion torches or d.c. rail means. Examples of high energy lasers or particle beam generators reside initially in such state of the art devices represented by United States Letters Patents Portable Laser Device Pat. No. 4,276,520 and Patent Pending works such as the M.A.L.K.E. XL10 Device, A Simplified Structural Format, Ser. No. 522,331 both issued to the inventor hereof. Explosive techniques residing in the field of pyrotectics include dynaite (TNT) and shaped plastic explosives, which are well practiced and known by those skilled in the art. The limits of explosives tend to be contingent on the hardness and consistancy of the material to be excavated and the degree of accuracy desired, which directly effects the size and shape as well as the numbers of explosive charges deployed.
Restrictions placed on the use of conventional explosives rely on the scale of the operations, as in the case of creating an artifical canal, lake, or subterranean cavern to confine hazardous materials for several centuries or millenniums; wherein their use would be impractical because of the inordinate high costs, technical aspects and materials including the explosives themselves. Nuclear and thermonuclear explosive devices often lack the accuracy of any of the above aforementioned means and often require implacement by conventional mining techniques. The basic advantage of nuclear or thermonuclear devices is basically that they are reliable, one billion times or more cost effective for large scale operations than previously discussed methods and can under properly supervised conditions complete the entire operation within a matter of seconds or less. The obvious disadvantage of deploying nuclear or atomics pertain to radioactive fallout and residues secondary to the operations of such devices such as neutron radiation with atmospheric or meteorological consideration, which of course must be properly assessed prior to deployment. Present examples of the peaceful use of atomics reside in projects such as Plowshere, conducted in the U.S.A. from approximately 1964 through 1977, inclusive, with the last detonation taking place in 1973, programs initiated by Los Almos Nuclear Test Facility in conjunction with the D.O.D. and recent various operations conducted by the Soviet Union to release various previously inaccessible deposits of oil or natural gas and/or the subterranean excavation of storage sites in its Baltic regions. More specifically Soviet operations such as the creation of a crater in excess of one cubic kilometer in Semipalatinsk in 1965 and some more than thirteen underground nuclear detonations in the Astrakhan regions at depths ranging from 500 to 1,100 meters in layers of rock, salt and shale, producing extended irregular spherical cavities having a mean diameter of 45 meters and cubic displacement of 50,000 cubic meters.
Exemplary forms of electropropulsive acceleration, linear induction motors or related mechanisms will be briefly discussed in the prior art of Hawke, Kemney, Tidmen and others. The prior art of Hawke teaches a multiple stage rail gun accelerator sequentially energized by separate electrical energy sources longitudinally along the axis of the device. Additionally, the implementation of plasma arcs as armatures for accelerating the aforesaid projectile is taught by Hawke. Another type of multistage rail apparatus was introduced by Kemeny, patent Ser. No. 3,807,274 wherein electrical energy is serially introduced in stages to parallel rails, with a slidable armature and interrupt means, which effectively supplies current to successive portions of said rail, as the aforesaid armature travels from one end of said rails to the other end. The patent disclosure of Tidman Ser. No. 4,429,612 teaches the use of magnetic field or flux to focus the plasma charge inwardly along the central axis of the device against a tapered projectile and the implementatin of a sequential electrical discharge, wherein a current is provided through low density background gas by a series of anodes and cathode electrodes spaced along the path of said projectile. McAllister's patent disclosure No. 4,449,441 embodies an electromagnetic projectile launches, wherein arcuate conductive rails are brought together to form and augument said rails with a magnetic flux field to provide the necessary spin need for stabilization of a projectile. Patent disclosures No. 4,347,463 of Kemeny, Wilkens, et al. introduce electromagnetic launcher means with self augmenting rails, wherein in magnetic flux augmentation is initiated as the projectile passes from the breech of the device, which increases as the current to the rails decreases with a slidable armature disposed between the first and second conductor, acting as a means of propulsion for the projectile. Kemeny, Wilkens patent Ser. No. 4,319,168 teaches the use of an electromagnetic projectile launcher employing multiple current path armatures in an internal series augmented conductor rail configuration connected to multiple power sources. Additionally, patent No. 4,319,168 teaches successive discharges of multiple plasmas which act as conduction paths between conductors providing a means of propulsion for a projectile along said conductors in the presence of divider elements which prevent fusing of said plasmas.
Thus, there has been a long felt but unfulfilled need to safely dispose of hazardous waste materials, to acquire inexpensively previously known but inaccessible natural resources in the face of increased demands and dwindling reserves and to avert certain diasasters attributed to given geological stresses.